One fundamental issue plaguing horror games today.

As a sort of addendum to what I said yesterday, I feel that the survival-horror genre in video gaming has stagnated and in recent years has failed to produce any really new or noteworthy titles. Part of the reason that I think this is the case centers around a lack of evolution in the genre. Alone in the Dark and Resident Evil pioneered the genre by crafting the game play to fit horror fiction, limiting the players ammunition, combat abilities and movement. It is because of these gameplay elements the player is frightened; he or she is unable to adequately deal with every threat they face as a player, regardless of personal skill.

Video games were created with the intention to be beaten, solved, defeated. Every enemy encounter in the games of today are intended to be beaten by the player, despite different games offering varying difficulty in the vanquishing of its foes. As a game player, one begins to recognize this pattern almost immediately, regardless of what game is being played, and even the most difficult, challenging, and frightening enemies soon become mere obstacles that stand in the way of complete game victory.

For survival horror games to succeed, they need to begin by offering player incentive to something other than beat the game. Perhaps this can be achieved by alternate endings, but in my own experience alternate endings only frustrate when one does not receive the ending they wanted. I have not played the recently released Amnesia, but I am under the impression that title has no combat whatsoever, and attempts to reward the player who seeks to immerse himself in the experience,  rather than straight-shoot towards the end game. The game's goal is survival, not victory, so objective-focused gamers are not robbed of a quality horror experience by adhering to what the game asks of the player; total helplessness.

I might come back and edit this post later, but for now I will leave it as is. Also expect to see reviews on this page quite soon. Currently I am working on Valkyria Chronicles for ps3.

This is the first.

More than world peace, a solution to world hunger, or unlocking human immortality, I would like to see the quality of survival-horror video games increase. The Resident Evil series has turned into Gears of War: Africa, and the supposed new star of horror, Dead Space, is nothing more than Resident Evil 4: Gears of Outer Space.

The Silent Hill series has also seen a serious decline in recent years due to the dissolution of Japan's Team Silent. The series has now become a cheap whore and has had different installments developed by any and all new-coming development teams. The first four silent hill games were legitimately disturbing and frightening because they were original, and did not seek to play off of traditional video-game horror conventions. I noticed that Pyramid Head was a featured character in the new Silent Hill: Homecoming title, and thought it strange because *spoiler* Pyramid Head is one of James' mental creations in Silent Hill 2. 

I wish that I had a computer capable of running the penumbra series and Amnesia. Those games look legitimately frightening. I plan on getting Siren Blood Curse for my ps3 eventually, but the $40 price tag for a download title throws me off a bit.

If anyone has advice on titles that can be played on xbox 360, ps3, or a crappy old computer, I would be more than happy to take it :)